With a new contractor in place the new Buddy Phillips Bridge is on schedule for completion in July, state transportation officials said Tuesday.

Smith-Rowe LLC, a Mt. Airy-based construction company, is now contracted to finish the bridge, which spans the New River on U.S. 17 Business in downtown Jacksonville, said David Candela, resident engineer in Onslow County for the N.C. Transportation Department.

Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., the bonding agency backing the state contract, hired Tarboro-based Burnhill Contracting to finish the bridge and the final stages of the work has been sub-contracted out to Smith-Rowe, Candela said.

Smith-Rowe has worked successfully for NCDOT in the past, helping to build a six-lane bridge on U.S. 52 in Stokes County in 2009 and replacing a bridge in Winston-Salem last year, according to the Triad Business Journal.

Work slowed down in September and came to a full stop in October after the initial contractor filed bankruptcy. Intercoastal Contracting of Castle Hayne filed Chapter 11 after losing a $2.6 million lawsuit to a Wrightsville Beach homeowners association for faulty work done in 2007.

Employees with Intercoastal have repeatedly declined comment. The company’s attorney, James Oliver Carter of Carter & Carter in Wilmington, did not return messages Tuesday.

The $11.8-million Buddy Phillips project was 20-percent ahead of schedule when work stopped in the fall, leaving mainly road work on both sides of the bridge undone, Candela said.

“The project is still on schedule and is still scheduled to be completed by mid-July,” he said.

For the next few months, traffic will continue to share the new bridge.

The new bridge replaces one of the worst bridges in North Carolina, according to AAA Carolinas. The 67-year-old bridge that had been in use has been demolished and used to create the first inland artificial reef in Onslow County.

While the final touches are completed motorists using the bridge need to stay alert, watch for shifting traffic patterns and obey posted speed limits, according to information from NCDOT.

Contact Daily News Senior Reporter Lindell Kay at 910-219-8455 or lindell.kay@jdnews.com. Follow him on Twitter and friend him on Facebook @ 1lindell.